Owning that theater though, could give her the money she never had. Not Thayer money of course, but if she could ever manage to keep over a hundred dollars in her bank account in any given month, she might be able to breathe a little easier. The place did a better than average business thanks to the surrounding small towns and their limited choices for entertainment unless they wanted to drive over an hour away to Albany. But she wasn’t naive enough to think she’d ever manage to save enough money to buy it. The owner was willing to sell, but he was asking for more money than she would ever see in her lifetime.
But hey, at least she wasn’t living in the rundown trailer park she’d grown up in and where her mother still resided. Her mother’s dreams had died long ago, when she’d first decided to find solace in the bottom of a liquor bottle. It didn’t much matter to her what kind of liquor it was, just so long as the end result was passing out and forgetting all of her problems. And that seemed to happen pretty much on the daily.
Riley tore her eyes away from the view out the kitchen window of the home she shared with Megan and looked down at the scars on her right arm. She’d been burned worse than she thought the night she saved Vanessa Thayer’s life, but an entire year later, she was fully healed and doing fine. Well, except for the scars. At first she’d tried to keep them covered to stop the questions and pitying looks, but she didn’t care anymore. It was too damn hot in upstate New York during the summer to wear long sleeves.
She looked at the newspaper next to her arm and sighed. Vanessa Thayer was getting married at her family’s estate in three weeks, and the entire town was abuzz about the event. Riley wanted to gag. All she remembered of Vanessa from high school was what a colossal bitch she’d been. It seemed as though her entire existence revolved around how many people she could hurt. And during their senior year, her sights had been set on Riley and her very small circle of friends. She’d succeeded in making Riley’s life a living hell. So much so that Riley had even contemplated killing herself. For about a minute.
Megan was the one who talked her out of it by pointing out Vanessa Thayer wasn’t worth it. By killing herself, Riley would be letting her win, and there was no way Riley ever wanted that to happen. She leaned back and let out a breath as she ran her fingers through her hair.
Not that Vanessa’s twin sister, Victoria, had been much better. They’d been sort of friends up until high school, and sure, she’d tried to stand up for Riley occasionally, but it always seemed half-hearted at best. She’d run with the same crowd as her sister and had done her fair share of bullying too. Unfortunately, that hadn’t changed the fact Riley had always had a huge crush on Vic.
“Mail call,” Megan said as she walked in the front door. She tossed the mail on the table and took a seat across from Riley. “You’re ready for the reunion Saturday night, right? You scheduled someone else to work?”
“I did, but I really don’t want to go.”
“Come on, we’ve gone to every one they’ve had.” Megan pushed out her lower lip and batted her eyes, causing Riley to chuckle. “You do this every time, you know. And you always end up going, so just stop complaining about it.”
“I just read in the paper that Vic and Vanessa are going to be in town,” Riley said, turning the paper so it was facing Megan. “What if they show up there? I really don’t want to see either of them ever again.”
“Oh, please,” Megan said with a wave of her hand. “They’ve never attended a reunion, and they’re both big shots in New York City running their family empire. What makes you think they would lower themselves to be seen mingling with the residents of Wolf Bay? Besides, I’m sure you wouldn’t really mind seeing Victoria again, am I right?”
Riley shook her head and rolled her eyes at the way Megan waggled her eyebrows. She wished she’d never admitted to her in high school how she felt about Victoria Thayer. Most people would have probably forgotten all about it after twenty years, but no, not Megan.
“Fine, I’ll go,” Riley said, knowing the choice was never in doubt. She hadn’t had many friends in high school, but Peter came from California for every reunion they’d had, and she always loved seeing him again. As did Megan, which is why she was so adamant they had to go.
“You saved Vanessa’s life,” Megan said, as if that meant something. “That should give you brownie points with them, don’t you think?”
Riley nodded, because she’d certainly thought so, but she’d never gotten so much as an acknowledgment from anyone in the Thayer family for what she’d done. Not that she’d expected—or even wanted—anything from them, but a simple thank you would have been nice.
“You said yourself they wouldn’t want to associate with anyone from Wolf Bay, so does it really surprise you they wouldn’t concede anyone from here would do anything to help them?” Riley sighed and got to her feet. “But I’m over it. And if they do show up for the reunion, I will never forgive you.”
Megan blew her a kiss, knowing as well as Riley did she’d never stay mad at her for anything. She grabbed her backpack and headed for the door.
“Have a nice night at work, Riley,” Megan called out. “Love you.”
“Love you too,” she replied before walking out of the house they shared. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t find Megan attractive, but Megan was as straight as they come. They were too good as friends to mess it up by sleeping together anyway. Megan was the sister she never had, and honestly? Riley didn’t know what she’d have done if they hadn’t become friends back in junior high. No doubt she would have ended up just like her mother. That thought sent a shiver through her body.
Twenty minutes later, she was sitting in her office making up the employee schedule for the following week. All of her employees, other than her two assistant managers, were high school students. They were all good kids and never gave her a bit of trouble. She tried to accommodate their requests for days off as much as she could, and in return they were always on time and hardly ever stood around doing nothing.
Sure, they occasionally had friends stop by, but they were pretty good about limiting the visits to around five minutes, and as far as she could tell, they weren’t giving away concessions or letting their friends in for free. The one time she did catch someone doing those things, they were fired immediately, and the remaining employees knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what would happen if they tried the same thing.
She posted the schedule outside her office door and then sent in her weekly order for supplies before heading out to make sure the concession stand was well stocked for the next show.
“Hey, boss,” said Nancy, an assistant manager and the only person working for her who was older than Riley. The woman was perpetually cheery, and there were days it grated on Riley’s nerves. Most of the time though, it helped to bring Riley out of whatever funk she happened to be in. Today was one of those days. “It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?”
“It is,” Riley replied with a nod as she glanced toward the front doors. It was the beginning of June, and they’d soon be open for show times all day every day rather than the abbreviated schedule of evenings only during the week while school was in session. “Summer’s almost here.”